St Eloi Lupopo CEO Jean-Luc Kapend has spoken out on Orlando Pirates complaints after the DRC outfit eliminated them from the CAF Champions League.
The Buccaneers were eliminated in the second preliminary round after a thrilling two-legged contest against Lupopo finished level at 3-3 on aggregate, forcing a decisive penalty shootout.
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- CAF Confirm Complaints/Protests Received
Following the match, the Bucs immediately submitted a complaint to CAF, alleging several violations. They claimed the Congolese coach, Guy Bukasa, was improperly on the bench as he was reportedly serving a six-match ban for a disciplinary offence committed during the Under-20 AFCON.
Additionally, Pirates cited two player-related issues. They claimed Henoc Molia’s registration violated CAF rules as it occurred outside the transfer window, and they reported that Wanet Kashala’s eligibility is questionable, citing that he holds two different passports.
Kapend strongly defended the club against all allegations, asserting that the Soweto giants were misled and maintaining his side is “clean.”
“Orlando Pirates took a wrong information, [Ramos] Kashala was registered on 29 September, that was one day before the window closed,” said Kapend.
“The motivation of the complaint of Pirates, they announced the player by the social media, out of the day of registration.
“The second player, [Henoc] Molia. In Congo, we change passports and the passport we used to register him is not old, it’s the valid passport.
“With regards to Bukasa, it’s not a problem. There’s a problem of interpretation.
“On the 29.6 article, all the suspensions can concern the competition of under-20 and all competitions of national team.
“CAF sent us the list of all the officials and the players, who were in suspension and in this list, you don’t find the name of Guy Bukasa. The competition will continue and for Lupopo, we are clean.”
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